Sports are a huge part of lots of people’s lives, and if you’re reading this I’d be willing to bet you fit in that category. Maybe you watch football, or maybe you even play pick-up basketball or are in a men’s softball league. Almost 60 million people watch sports at least once a month in the US, but I doubt very many of you spend your Saturdays watching Yale and Princeton’s crew teams duking it out for the number one spot in the country. You also probably assume that rowing is for people from the Northeast, those that live in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but that’s not really the case. The University of Texas ranks second in the entire country for women’s rowing, and Austin actually features its own junior rowing teams.
Rowing has been around for centuries with its first uses coming during the times of ancient empires, but as a sport, it developed in early 18th century England. It has been featured in every Olympic Games save one, and is competed in around the globe. Rowing is a combination of some of the most tiring physical and mental aspects of all sports. It takes time to master the technique, and when racing you have to constantly engage the correct muscles in the correct sequences and repeat that motion over and over again while you are mentally and physically drained from a race. Not only do you need physical endurance but mental endurance to keep pushing yourself for 1000s of meters. You also must match the stroke length and body angle of the rower in front of you to allow the boat to stay sequenced. The most unified boat often comes out on top because as a team they generate their power most efficiently. Rowing is possibly the most underappreciated sport in America, and most people probably don’t even know that Anderson has a senior that is joining MIT Crew next fall.
There are two main types of rowing, sweep rowing and sculling. In sweep rowing, each rower has just one oar that is usually held in both hands, while in sculling a rower has one oar in each hand. Sasha Krigel rows on the starboard (right) side and sculls for TRC Varsity Crew, a local club that competes at races across the nation. This past year, they raced everywhere from Waco to Boston to San Diego, California. They also put in a lot more work than you might think. Practices are six days a week and rowers are on the water for two hours. Outside of team practices, rowers work out multiple times a week as well, whether that be lifting weights, running, or training on a rowing machine (ERG).
That training allows a rower to generate more power and in turn more speed. What’s more indicative of speed on the water though, is your weight-to-power ratio. Basically, how much power you can produce at your weight, which differs from the raw power measured on the rowing machine. Nevertheless, the rowing machine is one of the most important tools for recruiting because it gives a recruit their ever-important 2000m time. That time is used as a basic standard in the rowing community and is one of the biggest things coaches look at when recruiting their crew teams each year. A good time can range anywhere from 7:15 – 7:45 for girls who are looking to row in college and Sasha’s current time is in the 7:30s. However, despite its widespread use, a 2000m time is not a perfect metric because it offers more benefit to a heavier rower than lighter rowers because it doesn’t account for mass, only raw power. A heavier rower will have an easier time producing more power on a rowing machine, but a lighter rower that produces the same power would be more beneficial in the boat. Your technique and fitness matter heavily in terms of a weight-to-power ratio and rowing in general.
While the 2000m time doesn’t account for weight, collegiate rowing has divisions that do. Women can either row open-weight or lightweight and there are some key differences between the two. The most predominant difference is weight. Lightweight rowers are required to be 135 lbs or less in the fall, and that requirement lowers to 130 lbs in the spring. The other major difference is only important to rowers in college or those with collegiate rowing aspirations. Lightweight and Openweight rowers actually compete in two different associations. Openweight rowing is governed by the familiar NCAA while lightweight is managed by the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA).
Sasha will be rowing open weight at MIT, a school known foremost for its excellence in academics. Unlike other D1 schools, MIT doesn’t admit people for athletics. Even the Ivy League sports teams can help push an application through (as long as it meets their high requirements), but MIT does nothing of the sort. The most a coach can do is send a letter to admissions officers, but it is unknown if that makes much of a difference in the acceptance of a student. This makes Sasha’s acceptance to MIT all the more impressive with a collegiate rowing spot being the cherry on top. Her hard work in the classroom, the weight room, and on the water has truly paid off.
When asked about rowing at MIT next year, Sasha said that she “can’t wait to learn at such an inspiring place and row on the legendary Charles River!” It truly is special what she’s accomplished, and that shouldn’t go unnoticed any longer. Sasha is headed into engineering at arguably the best school in the country and will continue to compete in a sport that she loves and works so hard for.
